


Let Me Hear You Laugh

by Kurokosou



Series: Shance Fluff Week 2018 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff, Gen, Laughter, Pidge appears briefly - Freeform, Platonic Relationships, Shance Fluff Week 2018, could be read as romance, lame space jokes, lance loves it though, others mentioned in passing - Freeform, shance fluff, shiro is shy about his laugh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-05
Updated: 2018-06-05
Packaged: 2019-05-18 04:45:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,816
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14845991
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kurokosou/pseuds/Kurokosou
Summary: Lance came to the sudden revelation that he has never once heard Shiro laugh since getting shot into space in a giant blue lion. He decides to remedy this travesty and sets off on a mission to get the black paladin to laugh.*Written for ShanceFluffWeek2018: Prompt 2:Silence/Laughter*





	Let Me Hear You Laugh

Lance was a paladin on a mission, a very serious, important mission and absolutely nothing was going to get in his way. He stalked through the empty halls of the castle, listing off in his head all the possible locations as to where he could find a certain black paladin and current head of Voltron. The revelation had come rather suddenly to him the other day – Lance realised, the entire time they've all been stuck in space, he has never once heard Shiro laugh. Of course Pidge oh so sarcastically pointed out that Shiro has laughed before.

“He laughed when we got into that goo food fight, remember?” the green paladin mentioned.

“We were all laughing, so that doesn't really count! Besides, he was kinda quiet – I barely heard him,” Lance countered.

“Why is this so important to you, anyways?” Pidge asked, not looking up from her laptop.

“Because laughter is good for you! Helps you unwind and relax – and if anyone deserves to relax around here, it's Shiro,” Lance pointed out. A good laugh, not the quiet titter or oh-ha's, but a deep, belly-aching, tear-inducing laugh was the best kind of laugh in Lance's humble opinion. There was a thoughtful hum from the small green paladin, before she nodded in agreement. And that's how Lance set off on his mission to find Shiro and figure out how to make the older paladin laugh.

He had been searching up and down the castle for a while now, first checking the main deck in case he was with Allura, but no – it was just Coran and the space mice there. He tried the training deck next, not at all surprised to see Keith there, but Shiro wasn’t with him; the red paladin hadn't seen their leader either. Lance didn't give him an answer when asked why he was looking for Shiro, simply waving the other teen off and continued on his way. He thought about checking Shiro's room, but decided to save that for last. He swung by the kitchen briefly – just in case – finding it empty before trying to the observation deck; again he came up empty-handed. Lance frowned, arms crossed and tapping his foot impatiently against the floor – there were only so many places one could go on this ship without getting hopeless lost.

He headed towards the lounge, the second last place he figured the man would be and sure enough, there he was. Shiro was sitting in the middle of the circular couches, eyes dutiful scanning through the information scrolling across the data pad in his hand. It was most likely the leader was going over the details from the last mission – mentally filing away what went well, what needed work and what to do better next time. Lance couldn’t help but wonder if the man ever relaxed during his down time and the thought only served to strengthen his resolve to get the elder to laugh. He cleared his throat to let his presence be known, Shiro looking up from the data pad and giving him a friendly smile.

“Hey Lance, what's up?” he greeted.

“Nothing much, other than I just spent the past varga looking for you,” Lance shrugged casually, returning the smile. Shiro's smile dropped a little, thick brows furrowing together in concern.

“Looking for me? Why? Is everything okay?” he asked. Lance blinked before waving a hand and flashed him a wide grin. He made his way over to the couches, plopping down gracelessly onto the cushion next to Shiro.

“Nah, everything's cool – I just wanted to ask you something,” Lance replied. Shiro only raised a brow curiously at him, subtly twisting his torso so he could face the brunet.

“...and?” he inquired when Lance didn't say anything. The grin on the blue paladin's face widened, Lance clearing his throat as he leaned back against the couch.

“Soo – what do you call an alien ship that drips water? A _crying_ saucer!” Lance said. Shiro only blinked at him with a blank look, as if his brain hadn't caught up with the words yet. Lance flinched a little, but sucked in a breath and continued on; he was determined to get a smile out of the man, no matter how many lame space jokes he had to belt out.

“What’s an astronaut’s favourite candy? A _Mars_ bar!” Lance kept going. He saw a subtle twitch in the corner of Shiro's mouth, the man quickly clearing his throat and looking back to the data pad in his hand.

“Lance, I don't really –” he began, but Lance wasn't going to back down now. Not after seeing that little twitch of a smile.

“Hey Shiro – how much is the moon worth? One dollar, because it has four quarters!” Lance said confidently. He heard Shiro choke back a noise, clearing his throat again in attempts to keep a straight face. Lance pressed on.

“What’s an astronaut’s favourite key on the keyboard? The _space_ key!”

“Lance...”

“Scientists have discovered that the center of Jupiter contains the letter ‘I’,” Lance smirked. For each joke he fired off, Lance could see Shiro struggling to keep his composure; the elder put a hand over his mouth, trying to hide the smile threatening to take over his face. Lance could see the black paladin's shoulders shaking from holding it in, and it should be fortunate that he was holding the data pad with his left hand – otherwise Lance was pretty sure Shiro's Galra hand would've cracked the screen.

“Hey Shiro...” Lance began slowly, leaning towards the older man just a little. Dark grey eyes hesitantly glanced at him, a silent plead plainly visible in them; Lance couldn't help the sly little smirk.

“I’m reading a book about anti-gravity – it’s _impossible_ to put down!”

That did it.

A heavy snort escaped Shiro, followed by several more snorts and chortles as he laughed. Shiro quickly slapped a hand over his mouth, trying to cover up his laugh and failing miserably as he turned away from the blue paladin. Lance felt his jaw drop a little, eyes going wide before bright smile lit up his face.

“Holy shit! _That's_ your laugh?! Oh my god, that's adorable!” Lance beamed. Shiro shook his head, finally letting go of the data pad so he could use both hands to cover his mouth.

“N-no! God no, I hate my laugh...” he managed to get out in between snorts.

“Are you kidding?! That's like - the cutest laugh I've ever heard!” Lance complimented. A small blush appeared on pale cheeks, Shiro still shaking his head as he finally managed to calm himself down enough to speak properly.

“It's not, it's an ugly laugh,” Shiro argued softly.

“Who told you that?” Lance frowned.

“I – got made fun of a lot for it when I was kid; and back when I first attended the Garrison, there was a girl I liked – she said it was disgusting and made me sound like a pig...” Shiro explained hesitantly.

“Well then they're all idiots and uncultured swine, because I think your laugh is the best laugh ever!” Lance huffed, plopping back against the couch. The blush on Shiro's face darkened a little, turning his eyes to glance at the teen with a hopeful look.

“You – really think it's cute?” he asked tentatively.

“Of course! I love it!” Lance exclaimed, bolting up right. The red colour spread further down Shiro's face at the words, Lance blinking for a moment or two before it sunk in what he just said. A furious blush came to tanned cheeks, Lance near jumping back in his seat as he flailed his arms about in a flustered manner.

“Y-your laugh! I mean y-your laugh! I don't like you – I mean, of course I like you! Not like, like-like you! I mean, you're my friend and hero – wait no! I mean –!!” Lance stumbled.

He let out a strangled noise of embarrassment, burying his face in his hands and hoping the couch would suddenly open up and swallow him whole. He looked up at the sound of snorts and laugh coming from the black paladin, noticing the man wasn't making any efforts to keep them in this time. Lance couldn't help but smile a little at that, feeling a small chuckle escape him. They fell into a comfortable silence for a few minutes, the faint humming of the castle ship's inner mechanics in the background.

“Thank you, Lance – I needed that,” Shiro finally said. The brunet just beamed at him, gently nudging the man with his elbow.

“Hey, that's what I'm here for! Seriously, dude – if you ever need a good laugh, just give me a call! I'd be happy to help out,” Lance encouraged.

“I'll keep that in mind,” Shiro answered. The two paladin shared a smile before Lance suddenly felt subconscious, quickly getting up from the couches with a stretch.

“Ah! I should – let you get back to work...I'll just, uh, I'll be going now,” he excused. Shiro didn't say anything, only giving him a small smile as he nodded his head, reaching out to pick up his data pad and continue with his review. Lance looked over his shoulder as he reached the doors; a pride swelled in his chest at the faint little smile still gracing Shiro's lips, that smiling reaching all the way to his eyes.

“Hey - Shiro?” There was a quiet hum as Shiro glanced up from his data pad, giving the brunet a curious look.

“I think you're absolutely – palan- _keen_!” Lance winked, shooting him his classic finger guns.

“ _Lance!!_ ” Shiro guffawed. Lance laughed, quickly running out of the lounge before he had the data pad thrown at his head. He slowed down his pace once he was safe in the hallways, the biggest and goofiest grin on his face as he put his hands behind his head. He hummed softly to himself, still playing the black paladin's laughter in his head; a warm feeling pooled in his stomach at the idea that Shiro was comfortable enough around him to let loose like that.

Halfway down the hall, Lance bumped into Hunk, the other teen noting that he seemed rather pleased with himself. Lance didn't say anything, just shrugged and tagged along with his best friend as Hunk started to ramble on about something. Some kind of secret project he and Pidge were working, but most of the details flew over Lance's head in techno-jumbo. He just smiled and nodded like always, knowing Hunk knew he understood jack of what he was talking about. Lance couldn't help his mind as it wondered back to Shiro and his delightfully cute laugh that he's been keeping hidden this entire time. He really hoped Shiro would be a little less shy about his laugh after this encounter.

Then again, Lance wouldn't particularly mind if he had Shiro's laughter to himself – at least for a little while.


End file.
